Twelve men had returned from an inspection of their new home in the hill country of Canaan. It was time to present their report to the extended family and sell the idea of possessing Canaan quickly. However, the men were divided. Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go […]
Tribulation: On Groups and Causes Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But […]
One way God might convict us of a wrong attitude is to drop us onto the stage of a living parable. He did that to Jonah to show him how weedy his love was. Jonah had run from God’s assignment to warn Nineveh of impending judgment. He ran because he knew God’s character, which includes […]
How did the book of Jonah get into the Bible? It contains only five Hebrew words of grumpy prophecy.1 I think it’s there because God wants us to know the simple but strange story of Jonah himself. He’s called a “minor prophet” but he’s more of an anti-prophet—the opposite of a good prophet of God. […]
God’s question to Elijah at Horeb, the mountain of God, is a question for all of us as we approach God. “What are you doing here?” Elijah seemed to have no other objective than to run as far from trouble as he could and deliver a resignation speech to God. He was done. But there […]
I used to think that persistence was a mixed virtue. After all, when I kept asking my parents for things they eventually got irritated. My persistence came across as begging or nagging, trying to force them to give me what I wanted. “And hurry up, please.” I struggled with Jesus’ parable on persistence in prayer. […]
[Salome] said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests. And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. (Matt. 14:8-10) Even the ruthless Herod had a conscience. […]
Predictive Prophecy Once in a while God reveals something to us that has all the signs of Divine involvement, but seems to make little sense right then. Palm Sunday must have been like that for the disciples. Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem served one purpose—it fulfilled predictive prophecy, but in a way that no one […]
One of the ironies of prophecy is that when it comes to pass there are people who refuse to believe its fulfillment. Sometimes we construct a warm and comfortable nest of ideas around a prophetic hope without realizing that those ideas have become more precious than the hope itself. Fulfillment requires the dismantling of what […]